Arnhem by Fred Smeijers, was designed in 1999 for the Nederlandse Staatscourant, the daily newspaper of the Dutch state. It can be classified as a very functional design – Arnhem has been conceived for, and does work best in large quantities of running text. Rooted in traditional typography Arnhem undoubtedly has a modern touch, or 'an edge', as Erik Spiekermann has put it a few years ago. An outstanding tool for editorial design, Arnhem stands out due to its character, distinct colour and exceptional reading quality.Its first commercial release in 2002 comprised four weights of roman and italic designs: Blond, Normal, Bold and Black. Its Normal weight has a strong colour, which is good especially in small sizes and in less than optimal printing circumstances. Arnhem does not have a Light weight, instead there is a Blond version. The Blond a bit too heavy to be classified as a real light is meant to be used in those circumstances in which a strong colour is not really wanted or needed.Eight years on, Smeijers presents the second generation of Arnhem fonts. With small design and spacing amendments, and completed with a SemiBold weight Arnhem fonts now feature five weights of roman and italic designs: Blond, Normal, SemiBold, Bold and Black. The PRO character set includes small caps, lining, old style and small cap figures (each in tabular and proportional widths); fractions; comprehensive scientific superiors and inferiors, nominators and denominators; case sensitive punctuation sets; mathematical and monetary symbols (in tabular and proportional widths); arrows; standard and discretionary ligatures; and a complete range of accents for all Latin-script-based Western, Central and East European languages.

Arnhem text faces are accompanied by two titling variants - Arnhem Fine - in roman and italic. These have different proportions and were especially designed for the use in larger sizes. The Arnhem Fine fonts are the titling companions for the Arnhem family, initially designed for the Nederlandse Staatscourant in 1999. It is a formal typeface that performs best in sizes larger than 14 point. Compared to Arnhem text fonts, the design of Fine is crisper in the details, such as serifs or curve connections. Another important difference is the design proportions - the Fine versions have longer ascenders and descenders, and bear a smaller x-height.Arnhem Fine is the right choice for impressive title-pages, in which the drawing and general character of the typeface plays an important role. Arnhem Fine consists of normal and bold weights only, both with matching italic designs, and does not comprise typical text components, such as small caps or non-lining figures. The Fine variants complement the Arnhem text fonts, and complete the Arnhem family.

Noel Gallagher’s statement that reading fiction is a “fucking waste of time” and readers are “putting themselves a tiny little bit above the rest of us” – is a valuable contribution.

Cathy Nicol: Isle of Joy

Vince Smith met bandmates Jim Kelly and Nancy Gibbs at a Sex Pistols concert, where he tried to kiss Sid Vicious’ guitar and got a bloody nose. Together they formed Aftershock, and for a while they made a lot of noise, a bit of money and caused a sensation wherever they went.